can we all agree here how classic the new ghostface and adrian younge 12 reasons to die album is, please, this shit is a wu masterpiece

Wed May 22, 2013 10:07 pm

MF Noob

Joined: 18 May 2008
Posts: 127

Before we speak on any of his new projects, I would like to know if he gets royalties from Action Bronson. If not, why is that guy allowed to exist? Not only is (or was) biting a major faux pas in hiphop, Ghostface has already clearly stated that he doesn't want anyone sounding like him. And then someone goes and not only sounds like him but talks about a lot of the same stuff. The whole food thing is what kind of takes it over the top. Then what....nothing? And whenever anyone brings this up people are like, "oh please that's an old argument get over itttt." But no. This issue has yet to be resolved. Has Ghostface ever spoken on this? Inquiring minds want to know.

Wed May 22, 2013 10:16 pm

NeuroA champion of Kurtis SP

Joined: 19 Jul 2002
Posts: 7839

maybe i dont listen enough to action but i dont think hes anything like ghost, and im not actions biggest fan but i always enjoy when hes featured on tracks, the lazy sly flow works well

I love me some Ghostface. The man is a legend with a really recognizable flow. I hear similarities between Ghostface and Action Bronson, but I don't think it's purposeful. They're both from New York, and they probably happen to have similar voices in general. I don't think there's an issue of biting here. Either way, this is a thread about the one and only Ghostface Killah. Dude is grimy but with that's storyteller's charisma.

Thu May 23, 2013 10:39 am

remind

Joined: 22 Jun 2008
Posts: 2202
Location: NJ

MF Noob wrote: Before we speak on any of his new projects, I would like to know if he gets royalties from Action Bronson. If not, why is that guy allowed to exist? Not only is (or was) biting a major faux pas in hiphop, Ghostface has already clearly stated that he doesn't want anyone sounding like him. And then someone goes and not only sounds like him but talks about a lot of the same stuff. The whole food thing is what kind of takes it over the top. Then what....nothing? And whenever anyone brings this up people are like, "oh please that's an old argument get over itttt." But no. This issue has yet to be resolved. Has Ghostface ever spoken on this? Inquiring minds want to know.

Haha word. Just the other day, I listened to an AB song for the first time and I was like "is this guy serious?" I've never heard a rapper sound so much like another rapper, Drake excluded.

Thu May 23, 2013 12:25 pm

Jesse Custer

Joined: 01 Dec 2006
Posts: 1258
Location: London

Noob.. Why do you give a shit?

Yeah, he has a similar voice and flow. And? The content and the beats he raps on are sufficiently different that it doesn't feel like I'm not getting anything out of listening to him.

And when I first started listening to Bronson, Ghostface was releasing fucking garbage like The Wizard of Poetry. So even if he had sounded exactly the same as old Ghost I would have welcomed it.

And he's been prolifically releasing material of high quality ever since, making good videos, putting on better live shows and generally taking himself a bit less seriously than Ghostface.

Right now, he's better. And I say this as a big Ghostface fan, including his most recent couple albums. As a fan of the music, I don't care and there's no reason you should either. Do you have some kind of personal connection to Ghostface or something?

Anyway. Back on topic. 12 Reasons to Die. It's decent. I get what they were going for with the music, it's all soundtrack-y and whatever. But where it's supposed to be all "thematic" it falls a bit flat and sounds a bit samey to me. It falls short of a good film score, and isn't as good a straightforward rap album as it could be either.

Also, most of the singing bits are terrible, and they really beat you over the head with the concept far too much. We get it, already!

On the whole, the Apollo Brown "Brown Tape" version of the album is definitely much better. The beats match the mood of story without getting boring.

Although personally, I am listening to my own playlist of the album that I made which has tracks 1, 2 and 12 of the Adrian Young version and the rest are all Brown Tape.

I like listening to the instrumentals cd of the Adrian Young version though.. so maybe it's just that I have issues with the awful singing (which is not just a bit poor melodically, but more importantly terrible lyrically, as the part of the album that is most responsible for overly spelling out the story).

Thu May 23, 2013 1:54 pm

NeuroA champion of Kurtis SP

Joined: 19 Jul 2002
Posts: 7839

the brown tape is good for what it is but it lacks something, the real album is much more masterful

and i totally understand the relation that people see it as a "score" type thing, i see it more of ghostfaces version of liquid swords, on some raw kung fu type wu , all laced with a complete story of the ghost faced killer

Thu May 23, 2013 8:39 pm

Jesse Custer

Joined: 01 Dec 2006
Posts: 1258
Location: London

Actually, whilst we're on the topic, I was just listening to the album in the car on the way to work and I do have a bit of a problem with the story.

It doesn't really flesh out the characters too well. I don't really mind for the De Lucas mob - generic crime family whatever, that's fine. But Logan is the main antagonist and I know nothing about her. If I understood why she flipped on him it would give the story so much more depth.

He talks about how mad in love they were, and then she does a 180 on him but we don't know anything about her motivations so it seems all a bit shallow.

Fri May 24, 2013 2:44 am

FuseONE

Joined: 11 Jul 2002
Posts: 1715
Location: Newark, DE

re: the food references he throws into his lyrics...action bronson was an actual chef.

Fri May 24, 2013 11:35 pm

NeuroA champion of Kurtis SP

Joined: 19 Jul 2002
Posts: 7839

i just decided someone needs to make an album that is an actual cookbook in rap format, of course with creative freedom

Fri May 24, 2013 11:40 pm

T-Wrexp00ny tang

Joined: 30 Jun 2002
Posts: 6409
Location: Detroit, Michigan

Neuro wrote: i just decided someone needs to make an album that is an actual cookbook in rap format, of course with creative freedom